“[The book is] better than you might figure.... the wild card was Avery, an unknown from Utah whose national track record starts here. But he's done inspired, diligent work. Constructed from a greater proportion of direct quotes than is normally deemed proper, the biography is doubly gripping as a result...” - Robert Christgau
“Perhaps the best virtue of this book is that it captures the great rock critic Paul Nelson in ways he would have appreciated. It's idiosyncratic, highly personal, dark, exasperating and, finally, inspiring. In Kevin Avery, Nelson, who died in 2006, has found a smart, sympathetic keeper of his flame…. The book restores him to a deserved place in the canon of music criticism. It's not always an easy read -- too grim for that. But for serious music fans, it's essential.” - Anthony Decurtis, Rolling Stone
“Like the best critics, Nelson was primarily a fan of what he wrote about, subjects that struck a chord with him. And here’s a bio and a collection of his work written by a fan of his.” - Robert O'Connor, Spike Magazine
“Paul Nelson's writing meant a lot to me emotionally at the time, enough to just flick that switch so that when you went on onstage that night you remembered: Hey, you're working on a promise to keep, not to just yourself but to him. He put his ass on the line for you in that last story, so you better be good.” - Bruce Springsteen
“Paul was his own kind of subterranean—disappearing around corners on the surface, thinking his way through the catacombs beneath it. He cultivated his obsessions over decades, until he could pass on the glow they gave off for him to other people. He left behind more than one ghost, and many of them are in this book.” Greil Marcus, author of Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads
“Kevin Avery has done something heroic here. Avery has rescued the work and the passion, the life and the meaning of the great Paul Nelson. Nelson was a deep and beautiful writer, mysterious and painstaking and brilliant. Thanks to Avery and Everything Is an Afterthought, Paul Nelson’s work finally has a home. This wonderful writing is here for the faithful, and now forever available for new fans who’ll never forget him.” - Cameron Crowe
“If it wasn’t for Kevin Avery, the life and work of one of the world’s first and greatest rock writers might otherwise have remained scattered in time and space. Written and compiled with intelligence, meticulousness, and passion, Everything Is an Afterthought is simultaneously a moving biography, a classic criticism anthology, an earnest expression of fandom, and, most importantly, an overdue addition to the canon of essential rock books.” - Neil Strauss, The Game, The Dirt og Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead